Feel the Wind
by Skylark Evanson
Summary: And so while every one stood by their means of travel, Rapunzel stood there looking a bit helpless, holding her long blonde locks in her arms and staring around at the group, trying to figure out where she fit into this messy, ragtag quartet. Her bare feet were all she had. *Partially RotBTD


**A/N: Alright, I've been craving to write this for a while. I hope this turns out well... Also, first attempt at writing Merida's accent, so please lemme know if it's any good.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of the RotBTD fandom. Any associated characters are not mine.**

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_Feel the Wind_

They all stood around and stared at each other, puzzled for a bit about the methods of travel.

Jack had the wind to be his ride. He could cue up a sharp winter breeze to carry him from one place to the next, his staff acting as a conduit by which to traverse through the air of any day. But it would only seat one and it would only fly for him.

Hiccup had the biggest elephant in the room- his dragon was big enough to carry all four of them, but the weight would bring down the sleek, strong beast. Two or three would be the maximum that Toothless could bear.

Merida had brought her steed, Angus. The massive black and white Clydesdale was the girl's ever-trusted ride. She brushed him, fed him, and generally cared for him. No one else was allowed to ride the horse, only her. And he would not be left behind.

And so while every one stood by their means of travel, Rapunzel stood there looking a bit helpless, holding her long blonde locks in her arms and staring around at the group, trying to figure out where she fit into this messy, ragtag quartet. Her bare feet were all she had.

The girl couldn't ride with Jack, he wouldn't be able to carry her into the wind, let alone the sheer mass attached to her head.

And Hiccup was already concerned about the state of his rigging without tools to do repairs. He was very uncomfortable with the thought of a non-rider mounted atop his precious Toothless, especially when a few strands of gold could ruin the entire set-up and send all three of them plummeting back towards earth.

Then there was Merida and Angus. Rapunzel basically wasn't allowed to touch the horse, let alone ride him. Even though she'd explained to Merida that she loved animals of all kinds, rabbits, horses, chameleons, the red-haired Scot wouldn't accept it. The rules were set pretty clear for all of them on day one of this little adventure: don't touch Angus.

But here they were, facing a big problem with their dynamics. Rapunzel had no way to move at the speed that the rest of them could. So the other three had a small talk as an awkwardly waiting Rapunzel, coincidentally, decided she'd get water for Toothless and Angus.

"I can't take her," said Jack quickly with his eyes flitting between the two. "It's physically impossible."

"She'll break my rigging, and if she's not careful, she'll fall off," Hiccup pushed as soon as Jack had thrown in his obvious two cents.

"Angus is mah horse!" argued Merida, feeling the boys' eyes burning into her with obvious expectation. Her dignity kept her from falling without a fight, even though she could scarcely see a way out of this one. "Ain't no lassie going to ride 'im with me!"

Hic's face softened into something of a pleading street pup hopeful for a scrap to eat. "Merida, she can put her hair in your saddle bag. She won't get in the way. And Angus is a strong, sturdy horse. He can carry both of you easily!"

"Please?" incurred Jack with a hopeful, yet desperate, look upon his frost-bitten features. "She's fine, Merida. She's not out to get you and she doesn't have fangs or anything. You've just got to give her a chance."

The redhead couldn't keep up her fury forever. She gave a loud and annoyed groan before caving. "Fine," she sighed, throwing her hands in the air as frustration boiled up in her blood; the sad facts of logic couldn't prevent the inevitable. "But if she gets too heavy-"

"Toothless and I can work on that," Hiccup covered with his hands up almost in surrender. He and Jack certainly had one thing in common: neither wanted to get on this princess's bad side. "But for now, she has to ride with you until I can find tools and materials in case we need repairs. I can't take that risk without a back-up plan."

"A'ight," she huffed, moving back towards her steed. The horse even stepped forward to greet her with a small whinny; he pushed his nose into her outstretched hand. "Yer goin' to have to put up with a lil' extra weight, Angus." Merida readjusted the saddle that remained perched on the Clydesdale's back and waited until the yellow-haired princess would return so they could leave.

Rapunzel came back in a matter of minutes with a makeshift bucket of water, which was dripping from many places but was still holding enough for one of the beasts, at least. The girl confessed that it was a trick she'd learned while stuck up in her tower so that she could water the flowers that she kept outside her window.

Angus was watered and then Merida got up on her steed, settling in before offering a hand down to Rapunzel. "Yer ridin' with me, lassie." The Scot basically refused to say her ridiculous name; she'd come to dislike the girl for a vast number of reasons, mainly because her weapon required very little skill and because she acted like such a princess. Rolling her eyes as she pulled the dainty girl up behind her, Merida took hold of Angus's mane with strong fists. "Careful not to hurt 'im," she instructed calmly, about ready to kick him into gear. "And don't ferget to put yer hair away."

The second Rapunzel was settled onto the horse and her hair was hidden in the saddle bag, they were on the move. The girl had to throw her arms around Merida to keep from falling off at the suddenness of the motion. And the riding... the riding was freeing.

All her life, Rapunzel had been trapped up in her tower, watching as everything went on below. Grass grew, flowers lived and died, and animals drifted across the landscape. Clouds floated by overhead and raindrops fell and splashed into the creek. And there was always a nagging noise, a loud rushing sound, that she could hear, that kept her up at night, that she could never see. Once she was down, she knew it was a waterfall, something she'd read about in books. She finally knew what the grass felt like. Flowers, oh they smelled so sweet, and trees had such lovely leaves...

Now she was part of this world, flying through it and watching it go by, but now she was going through it, moving with it. She could reach up and touch the trees when Angus thundered through the woods. She could feel her stomach drop whenever the horse jumped over a root and she laughed, the sound like the sweetest music box. The wind was probably the best feeling in the world because it wasn't blowing in through the window to circulate stale air, and it wasn't pressing against her skin harshly as she's running and racing to get away from someone terrible; this time, she could feel it rushing through her hair and pulling at it lightly, and she could feel the coolness and the sharpness of it, but it didn't hurt.

She laughed. She laughed like this was the best day of her life, like the whole world was experiencing this pivotal moment with her. For once, the universe was playing along with her, cheering her on, letting her experience the world in a new, beautiful way. Touching leaves, holding Merida, her feet on Angus, the wind in her hair, the world still spinning around her. The lost princess felt like she could finally be part of the world again, not just some soul trapped in her tower.

"This is amazing," she breathed on the second day of traveling, hugging Merida tightly to keep herself on the horse. "This is so fantastic." Her voice was like air, words slipping from her lips and touching the redhead's ears before being lost to the clomping of hooves and the rush of the wind.

And Merida... was impressed. Genuinely. As much as Rapunzel behaved like a princess, she also knew how to behave- how to be quiet, how to listen, how to act, how to remain calm. In general, Merida hated every aspect of that lifestyle, the blind obedience and the eternal faith, but she respected it on Rapunzel. The girl was proper. And maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.

Also, having the other girl's arms wrapped around her had become, for lack of a better word, comforting. She'd been away from home for a while now and she was missing her brothers and her father and most certainly her mother, but the way that Rapunzel held her felt different. It was sincere. And warm. Comforting.

So when Hiccup found tools and supplies a couple days later and invited Rapunzel up onto Toothless's bigger saddle for the ride of a lifetime through the oceanic blue sky, Merida's heart froze in her chest. And she wasn't expecting that. She had been telling herself that she was anxious for Hiccup to take the blonde off her saddle to keep from wearing Angus out and so that she could ride freely once more.

Upon the offer, the lost princess locked up as well. Her eyes shifted to Merida and then Angus and back to Merida. And she finally had to look to Hiccup, who was smiling and offering her a hand to help her up onto the massive dragon's back, the same way Merida had offered to help her up onto Angus every day.

"Uh, I think I'll-" She bit her lip for a moment before taking a polite step back. "I'll stay down here, if that's alright with Merida."

Rapunzel didn't want to leave the ground. The whole world was down here, the grass, the trees, the motion, the horse, and the girl. The blonde tried not to flush red. She'd lived her whole life in the clouds and above the earth, and now was her time to stay on the ground. She didn't want to fly. She wanted to stay with Merida.

It didn't take much for Merida to nod and give a little half smile. She wanted to keep the sweet princess on the ground too, even if just for the comfort of not being alone down there. The boys were up above, but they would travel below. The girls of the earth and the boys of the sky, they'd make their way to Pitch's hideout. They'd find their way to the future. But for now, Merida wanted to keep Rapunzel on the ground. And Rapunzel was more than happy to stay down there with her.

So when the blonde mounted again, she took Merida's hand and was pulled up on the horse, and it felt natural. Her golden hair was tucked away in the leather saddle bag, her sweet laugh was ready to ring, and Rapunzel couldn't be happier atop that black and white Clydesdale.

And the rider felt complete once the other girl's hands were tightly wrapped around her middle with her delicate fingers interlocking. Merida couldn't imagine what riding without the lost princess would feel like.

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**A/N: Alright, that was my best attempt. It developed much less than I wanted it too, but I still said exactly what I wanted to. Constructive criticism and feedback are welcomed. Thanks for reading!**

**~Sky**


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